1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telephone switching equipment and, more partiucularly, to equipment for protecting against inadvertent interruption of a circuit line at a telephone switching station.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a telephone switching station, a plurality of panels (sometimes referred to as a DSX panel) are employed for providing access to each circuit routed through the station. Each such panel includes a status light, a monitor jack, a line out jack and a line in jack for each circuit routed to it. These components are vertically aligned in the panel. The light provides a visual indication of the status of the circuit. The monitor jack permits monitoring a transmission in progress on the circuit without interruption of the transmission. The line in jack and line out jack permit rerouting of the circuit and necessarily interrupt any transmission ongoing upon insertion of a plug into one of these two jacks.
Presently, computers and various other electronic signal handling devices communicate via telephone lines. An interruption during such transmission will usually garble the information transmitted and the informational content of the transmission will be lost with a potential serious detriment to the user. When only a telephone conversation is ongoing, the momentary interruption is usually, at worst, a minor irritation. Because of the potential consequences attendant loss of data as a result of an interruption, telephone maintenance and service personnel at telephone switching stations must be very careful not to cause an interruption of communications by inadvertent or mistaken insertion of a plug into a live out jack or live in jack. Despite careful attention, errors do occur and transmissions are lost during the normal course of performing maintenance and service functions.
To prevent access to a circuit at a DSX panel, a piece of tape or other barrier has been placed across the three jacks and light or at least the two critical jacks of a circuit in service. Such barrier would require removal thereof to perform maintenance or service functions upon the circuit. Once the barrier is removed, it may be inadvertently misplaced or simply not replaced due to forgetfulness. Further, if the light is covered, the informational content provided thereby is lost and if the monitor jack is covered, normal monitoring functions would require removal of the barrier.